.
- Vegetables and fruits: Harvest
vegetables and fruits and preserve. Pick herbs
early in the morning after dew has dried, before heat of day
depletes essential oils. Protect fruit from birds with netting.
Side-dress long-growing season plants. Plant succession crops
such as beets, beans and corn, which will mature before frost.
Plant transplants of broccoli, cabbage and other cool season
crop seeds for fall.
- Flowers, shrubs and roses:
Annuals need regular fertilizing. Deadhead both annuals and
perennials for longer bloom, unless saving seeds. Cut back
delphinium stalks to encourage fall bloom. Divide candytuft,
creeping phlox and iris, if crowded. Pinch chrysanthemum tips
for bushier plants every two weeks until July 15. Train clematis
and other vines to trellis. Enjoy picking floral bouquets.
Remove seed pods from rhododendron species. Cut rambling roses
back to ground and feed. Remove all dead blooms from other
roses cutting above an outside eye or bud if possible. Keep
roses fertilized, well-watered and frequently check for problems.
- Renew mulch under trees, shrubs
and flowers, keeping mulch 6" away from tree or shrub base
and 1" from flower stems to help conserve moisture, control
weeds and cool the soil. Start a compost pile if you don't
have one and use compost to increase soil and plant health.
- Water
trees and shrubs planted with the last three years every few
weeks by soaking the root system. Container plantings need
frequent watering, sometimes as much as twice daily. Avoid
watering at night and use surface irrigation to cut down on
disease development. Break up crusted soils with hoe for better
water penetration. Roses and vegetables need weekly watering.
- Insects and disease: Check plants
on a regular basis and control with the least
toxic method. A strong spray of water can knock
aphids, mites and other insects off leaves. If that does not
work, try insecticidal soap. For corn earworms, apply vegetable
oil to tip of ear as silks emerge. For mildew on phlox and
beebalm, thin out stalks to allow for air circulation, pick
badly infected leaves, spray rest with fungicidal soap. Handpick
Japanese beetles, caterpillars and slugs. Hang sticky red
spheres on apple trees for apple-maggot flies.
- Bulbs: Bulb catalogues have arrived.
Place orders early. Bulbs may be dug, dried off, and stored
for fall after foliage turns brown or may remain in the ground.
Crowded daffodil and tulips may be divided. Remove bulblets
near base and set them in an out-of-the-way place to mature.
Remove stalks from lilies after they die.
- Lawns: Mow grass to 3" or 31/2"
for summer heat resistance. Leave
clippings on lawn after cutting. Water less often
but deeply. Edge grass next to garden borders.
- Propagation: Sow biennial seeds
such as holyhocks and Canterbury bells for transplanting into
garden in fall. Gather and save seeds of spring-blooming annuals
and biennials when seedpods are dry and brittle but not yet
open. Store in cool dry place until you're ready to sow them.
Seeds from non-hybrid annuals produce seedlings that are "true",
producing plants that look like their parents. Take soft-wood
cuttings of many broadleaf evergreens, such as rhododendron,
pyracantha, and evergreen euonymus. Take stem cuttings of
Armeria maritima, Dianthus, Iberis sempervirens and
Sedum spectabile.
- Call
the URI Garden Hotline Monday through Thursday 9 AM to 2 PM.
In
RI: 1-800-448-1011. Out of state callers: 1- 401-874-2900
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